They're tired of the story already

Image by dsearls via Flickr

Continued coverage of harness racing in The Record's Local section may hide more than two fans.

THOUSANDS FLEE AS CRISIS DEFIES SOLUTION

No end in sight

The Page 1 headline in The Record of Woodland Park today shows Editor Francis Scandale isn't even trying to hide how bored he is already with the disaster in Japan. 

Even if a damaged nuclear plant wasn't dangerously overheated, would there be an "end in sight" just one week after the main island was devastated by an earthquake and tsunami ? (It's now Saturday in Japan).

What doesn't seem to end are the stupid headlines.

Scandale must be temporarily out of insensitivity after printing e-mails from Onomachi, Japan, to sister city Glen Rock- -- including typos and broken English -- on A-1 and A-12 of Thursday's paper.

Today, two more e-mails appear on A-6, but they were translated from Japanese.

Complementary

On A-22, the headline over an editorial on Northvale cutting all funds to its library works well with the Margulies cartoon next to it.

The headline, "Civic butchery," is next to a cartoon showing a cleaver and scissor hanging over a crib labeled, "NJ  low-income kids," who are facing state cuts in pre-school programs.

Now, all we need is an editorial blasting Governor Christie for cutting funds from defenseless kids while preserving the wealth of millionaires. Don't hold your breath.

Feed bag is on

Head Assignment Editor Deirdre Sykes' Local section leads with a story on the Meadowlands Racetrack and the state's harness racing industry.

I know Local's layout editor, Jim "Corny" Cornelius, and News Copy Desk Chief Vinny Byrne love the horses, but had no idea Sykes was a fan, too.

Also on L-1 today, Hackensack reporter Monsy Alvarado has her 102nd story on the Police Department, allowing her to continue ignoring city budget deliberations and the tax rate.

Paper for sale

On the Business page, a big photo shows the multimillionaire president of Benzel-Busch Motor Car Corp. overlooking the site of a $20 million expansion -- as the luxury car dealership threatens to swallow Englewood whole.

I'd feel a lot better about this story being news, if Benzel-Busch didn't buy an expensive ad that ran above the fold every day on the front of Local for nearly all of January.

Oh, by the way, the photo caption and story text drop the word "Car" from the name of the company. Can you get any sloppier?

Doesn't translate

In the Better Living centerfold, Restaurant Reviewer Elisa Ung quotes the Korean owners of a Japanese-style pub as saying they are filling "a void" in Fort Lee. 

Both she and they ignore the Japanese-owned Izakaya Don in neighboring Cliffside Park. A Japanese izakaya has operated there for at least a decade.

Ung also seems to just be discovering Fort Lee as a restaurant town on par with Ridgewood, Englewood and others. Where has she been?